"...Bringing Glad Tidings To The World..."

As I promised in my last entry, I am writing about the thoughts and intents of my heart from the past two days. The 176th Annual General Conference of the church adjourned shortly ago and I feel a need to express to my family and friends my testimony. The Spirit is here with me as I write, and I express my thanks to Him for allowing me to feel truth this day. He has been present in my home as I have listened to each of the sessions and felt the will of the Lord manifest through His servants. I have appreciated the theme of encouragement and invitation from this conference and commit to a more thorough understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. My testimony has been strengthened in the reality of the risen Lord and His gospel; the reality of a prophet and divine revelation and the reality of the atonement. I was reminded that the Lord knows how to succor His people. What a blessing to know such glorious things.

Today we were supposed to attend the afternoon session but as fate would have it we did not get in. Traffic coupled with a late arrival made it so we were turned away at the door. Regardless, we listened as we drove home and I was able to finish the conference in the confines of my own home. The experience I had after the closing hymn made me think that as in so many instances in life, that disappointment was a precursor to a greater blessing. As much as I enjoy being there, the window of the television allows the rays of the gospel in just as easy as being there. The Spirit handles satellite transmission very well…

After the conference ended, I felt the impression to pray with my wife. I called her to me and told her of my desires and thoughts. We gathered in our room and prayed together, asking that the affects of the conference would continue to linger in our hearts and home as the days and months passed before the next. We prayed for our families, our children and each other. We offered thanks to a loving father for what he had just allowed us to feel and hear. My wife then went on her way and I stayed in the room feeling inclined to read from the scriptures. I picked them up, and begun reading in 2 Nephi 10. I seem to have trouble maintaining a happy heart considering some of the sorrows of my life, and a scripture that I read helped me to remember how to qualify myself to all that the Lord has promised. “Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves- to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. 2 Nephi 10:23-24.” What a wonderful scripture! I had so much more say to my Heavenly Father, so I did; kneeling on my bed and offering another prayer to the heavens. I told Him that I was not praying in sorrow, but with joy in my heart; I expressed my gratitude for all that has been done in my life to bring me closer to Him. I thanked Him for my blessings and was very specific in describing what those blessings are. I asked that my children might be brought closer to me; I prayed for their mother to have love and the Spirit to guide her in the decisions that will affect them. I prayed for remembrance in the days to come of what I was feeling to guide my actions and increase my character. I prayed that the day would soon arrive that the Lord would trust me enough to allow me into His fold once again. I prayed to again be allowed to bare the priesthood of God and bless the lives of those around me. I asked for missionary experiences and recognized the opportunity around me to teach the gospel to those who unaware of the magnitude of its blessings. I prayed that my wife would grow in her understanding and love of the Savior. I offered thanks for the environment to which my children live and their access to things of the Spirit. Eyes wet, I concluded my prayer with a heart full and came straight away to this journal. It has been a good day.

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 25:26).” That is the purpose of this blog, and this day. Until then…